Remember how you felt as a kid when you would get something addressed specifically to you in the mail?  It made you feel grown up and special, didn’t it?  Whether it was a birthday card from grandma or an invitation to a friend’s birthday party, it was YOURS!  You had yourself a niche.

As a grown up, it seems all we find in the mail are bills and advertisements.  A nice change of pace would be getting something in the mail that is addressed to you specifically and concerns something of interest.

That’s what direct mail marketing is all about – personalization.

It’s a marketing solution that never goes out of style.

Creating unique print items promoting a product or service that a customer is likely to buy or donate to is the very definition of direct mail marketing.  This type of variable data requires knowledge about your prospective customer/donor, because the message must be tailored to that individual’s buying or donating criteria. If John, who lives in Arizona, purchases a shirt from an online clothing store, he is added to the customer database with his own unique information.  Every few months the store will send him a new catalog with other complimentary information.   And even though this store does sell winter parkas, for example, it is unlikely they would include that information in his catalog because the chances of him being interested in purchasing one are remote.   Why spend the extra money to print and distribute a catalog containing everything they sell when they can niche market much more specifically to one’s areas of interest and buying preferences.

Direct mail marketing, especially personalized niche marketing has proven time and again to greatly increase the effectiveness of your communication efforts.

Personalization sends messages timed to individuals known needs and habits.

Remember that demographic information gives you the ability to send each of your recipients only the information that pertains to them.